Search the Dictionary

deleting, blotting out, or erasing; destruction. [Obs.] Jer. Taylor. A total deletion of every person of the opposing party. Sir M. Hale.

luring. [R.] Dives, for his delicate life, to the devil went. Piers Plowman. Haarlem is a very delicate town. Evelyn.

or transgression against law; (Scots Law) an offense of a lesser degree; a misdemeanor. Every regulation of the civil code necessarily implies a delict in the event of its violation. Jeffrey.

Very pleasing; delightful. "Delightsome vigor." Grew. Ye shall be a delightsome land, . . . saith the Lord. Mal. iii. 12. -- De*light"some*ly, adv. -- De*light"some*ness, n.

attracting and absorbing moisture from the air, as certain salts, acids, and alkalies. In very moist air crystals of strontites deliquesce. Black.

ace dug; a pit; a ditch; a den; a cave. Which to that shady delve him brought at last The very tigers from their delves Look out. Moore.

rial or physical qualities or characteristics. Dematerializing matter by stripping if of everything which . . . has distinguished matter. Milman.

onduct. [Obs.] God commits the managing so great a trust . . . wholly to the demeanor of every grown man. Milton.

s in bearing; of modest look; staid; grave. Sober, steadfast, and demure. Milton. Nan was very much delighted in her demure way, and that delight showed itself in her face and in her clear bright eyes. W. Black.

To blacken thoroughly; to make very black. Boyle.

e sign of; to betoken; to signify; to mean. A general expression to denote wickedness of every sort. Gilpin.

The unraveling or discovery of a plot; the catastrophe, especially of a drama or a romance.

tenation; connection; reliance; trust. Any long series of action, the parts of which have very much dependency each on the other. Sir J. Reynolds. So that they may acknowledge their dependency on the crown of England. Bacon.

trip or pluck off the feather of; to deprive of of plumage. On the depluming of the pope every bird had his own feather. Fuller.

A catching; discovery. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.

A genus of coleopterous insects, the larvæ of which feed animal substances. They are very destructive to dries meats, skins, woolens, and furs. The most common species is D. lardarius, known as the bacon beetle.

A kind of short-barreled pocket pistol, of very large caliber, often carrying a half-ounce ball.

, Discovery or view, as of an army seen at a distance. [Obs.] Near, and on speedy foot; the main descry Stands on the hourly thought. Shak.

The invention and conduct of the subject; the disposition of every part, and the general order of the whole. Arts of design, those into which the designing of artistic forms and figures enters as a principal part, as architecture, painting, engraving, sculpture. -- School of design, one in which are taught the inventi…

he act or state of desisting; cessation. [R.] Boyle. If fatigue of body or brain were in every case followed by desistance . . . then would the system be but seldom out of working order. H. Spencer.